Snow field shadows

This empty lot on the corner of Peel and Ottawa streets, in the Griffintown neighborhood, had a fresh blanket of snow. It is one of the few, if any, places where you can get full sun in downtown Montreal especially in the winter when the angle of the sun is low. In the painting, you are looking North-West, that row of housing in the middle is community housing protected from Condo development. Instead of a Condo, this empty lot is slated to become an outdoor community commerce area, hopefully with some trees here and there. Montreal is allergic to empty space, so it has to be filled up as soon as possible.  

Empty lot winter vista, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

From the same vantage point, looking West, there is a Fire station on Young street casting a long shadow across the mostly undisturbed snowy field, just a few foot paths crossing the view. The snow shadow seemed to have two tones, a blue violet out in the field which I mixed with indo blue (PB60) and dark magenta (PV55), then a more greenish-blue in the distance I made by daubing phthalo blue (PB15) into the other mixture. Maybe it was all the same colour and my eyes were playing tricks on me. With the cold icy-wind blasting in from the west I couldn't see much when I painted this! 

Fire station snow shadow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Sun shining on Dorchester Square

 

From the look of it you might conclude it was warm today, but it was anything but. Strong, icy wind pelted Montreal which had received a fresh blanket of snow the night before. These trees in Dorchester Square line a walking path that only a few pigeons were brave enough to stroll down. Occasionally a group of pigeons landed right next to me anticipating food. To keep the top part of this painting clean, I omitted the background which was full of skyscraper buildings in shadow. 

Pigeons strolling, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Many tour buses park around Dorchester square, although I did not see too many tourists. Maybe they were staying on the bus which would have been smart today. The pigeons were hanging out on top of the archway of the Dominion building in the background, they were probably catching some heat off the front door of the facade. This was a tough painting to complete due to difficult conditions, the palette blew onto the ground a few times. Luckily I was dressed heavily for the occasion, all parts wind-proofed and insulated. Still the paint froze on the palette and the slow-drying salty water was a pain as usual. 

Tour bus Dominion building,watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026

To keep things moving I did two paintings at a time. For example, I painted the background elements for this one, worked on the bus painting, then finished this one with the dark overlays. The paint brush handles like a gooey crayon in these conditions, so its hard to paint straight lines. The left is a car rental building, the right is part of the impressive Sun Life building. 

Car rental Sun Life, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026

Being a 'square' instead of a 'park' means that they can lay a million expensive stone bricks instead of having grass. At least the square is still surrounded by tall trees which house many squirrels. The medieval-looking building in the background is the old Windsor Station, now a community center. As you can tell, Dorchester square is at the center of some historic parts of Montreal. Dorchester was a British army figure, in fact, the main street through downtown Montreal was called Dorchester until they renamed it after a Quebec politician. This square retains the name though. 

Snow piles Dorchester square, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Frosty scenes near the train tracks

Just before sunset I got down to the train tracks near campus and made a few paintings. It was pretty frosty out there, you can see all the ice crystals that formed in the watercolour washes up in the sky, and in my shadow at the front. The commuter train went by and cars were heading home after a days work. Between the road and the bike path there was a triangle of fresh snow that cast my shadow in a neutral sky blue. 

Road path tracks my shadow, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Looking to the west, the commuter train rumbled by. The foliage around the train tracks, including trees and vines, made for some good contrasts with the straight lines of the train tracks. When composing scenes in the winter, its important to keep an eye on the compositions because there is not a whole lot of colour to work with. In this case I used a variety of overlapping lines, in the first painting I relied on the triangle of snow to carry the scene. Hopefully it warms up a bit and I can paint some more. 

Train foliage, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Peel basin and canal frozen snowy

Making it from downtown to the peel basin, I found some more sun shine and a good view of the old pier covered in snow. At the base of the canal wall, there was a trail of paw prints, likely belonging to a fox that walks around here in the winter. I did not see the fox this time, but have painted it in the past here and here. When painting in the winter with salt water and freezing temperatures, you have to paint a lot darker knowing that it will dry light. In fact, you loose about two full shades of darkness when it dries. For that reason, I dab in plenty of darks like indo blue (PB60), dark magenta (PV55), and carbon black (PBk6). 

Peel basin paw prints, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Its funny I've never really painted these old towers by the canal, they are long defunct and rusting away. Recently hydro quebec announced they will remove all the towers, but some critics are saying they are heritage objects that should be saved. From an artistic standpoint they are more of a pain, so they could take them away, but maybe they are part of the history. Seeing them up close it looks more like they are ready to fall down.  

 Old towers by canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

Still cold downtown Montreal

At least the bike was in good shape, all the gears changed and the chain was moving. Its still cold in Montreal, down at Place des Arts was a rare spot where the sun came through. In the foreground, you see parts of the metro station, and some piles of snow. With sun beaming down it warmed a little, but my toes were still getting cold. 

Cold toes, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026

Here is a painting of one of the Jazz buildings, in fact, the Concordia University convocation happens here too. I get to sit up on the stage wearing regalia and clap for hours on end! Its the same stage where the late Robin Williams did a comedy show decades ago. In the foreground, you see one of the twisty jazz lamps and a few trees protruding from the snow. 

Jazz lamp, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 

This was the first painting of the day, at Vendome metro station half way between NDG and downtown. I almost chickened out and headed home from here, but pushed onwards while the sun was shining and I had the free time. Today required heavily salted water, and the paintings were kind of freezing instead of drying. 

Venome snow piles, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, February 2026 
 

Bananas mango apple

The fruit looks a little bit different here in Canada especially when painting indoors in the the evening with artificial lights. By comparison, in Brazil I got to paint fresh fruit of great variety out in the South American sun when it was shining. Keep in mind its freezing cold outside with a meter of snow, so we are lucky to have any fresh fruit at all, and to be fair, the bananas at the other grocery store looked a lot better than these ones. That mango incidentally, is probably from Brazil anyways! Painting fruit can be difficult, although the shapes are simple enough, there are colour variations and textures to pay attention to, and different light and shadow effects. Its good practice anyways, and I kind of enjoy it more and more. Cezanne was famous for painting still life of fruit, he would set up a whole table full and paint the whole scene. 

Bananas mango apple, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, February 2026 

Mounds of snow Raffi Auto

Yeah, now you know I am back in Montreal, here is a painting of Raffi Auto shop on Harley street in the Westhaven neighborhood done at lunch hour today. It was an enormously difficult painting to complete because I completely lost my cold acclimatization while in Brazil, not to mention came down with a lingering head-cold. The other adjustment was I had to use salt water, and as usual, the blobs of paint were frozen hard as a rock on the palette. Brazil in contrast, I used fresh water, and the paints were goopy and tacky due to the heat. Somehow, I held on and got the entire Raffi painting done on location as you can see, including my initials in place of their sign. Its set to warm up to a balmy zero ℃ after the weekend, although we still wont be wearing the new flip-flops quite yet!

Mounds of snow Raffi Auto, 6 x 7.5" watercolour February 2026